Hi, so I thought maybe I was in remission, but after Monday evenings walk (about 5 miles) I'm starting to wonder. Its Wednesday evening and I feel as though I have severe tendon pain. This is new to me. I've had serious muscle pain with join pain, but really it feels like my tendons are going to snap. This walk that I took wasn't any tougher than other walks I've done-I usually walk 3-4 nights a week at least 3 miles. I've been applying heat to my hips, knees and ankles with the hopes that this will subside because I'm too stubborn to call my dr. back and say I'm in pain. He'll want me to up the dose of my methotrexate-I'm really hoping to be off of that by the end of summer (gotta think positive). Anyways, as I understand it, Lupus is more about pain in the soft tissues around joints vs. the actual joints?. Am I right? So, if my tendons hurt this badly can I maybe expect this is the Lupus and that I just didn't overdo it on my walk? I'm so frustrated. I'm going to really take it easy on the couch tonight and wait for my ultra-soothing chicken and noodles to be done. I'd appreciate anything you've got on this. Thanks!~Tammy~

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself you never really knew."

I don't know about the pain,but my asthma is exercise induced and using my inhaler lessens my pain. Also, vascular problems in my legs cause heaviness and pain, so I have to wear support hose. Nerve problems in my lumbar hurt my legs, and my muscles are wasting away as if I'm lacking protein.

I have introduced whey protein smoothies with supplements and probiotics into my diet and they have provided me with what seemsto be less muscle loss and a balance of vitamins, supplementsand the abiity to accurately control my protein intake in a digestible form. Since people vary in the amount of protein they can take, you need to check wth your doc on the amount. They are often really helpful and many of them take smoothies themselves.

If you have asthma, I would make sure you have your inhaler. Levaquin is noted to cause tendon problems even after you stop taking it. Do you stretch properly before walking? If you can, ask your doc for a light phys therapy referral to get in shape to exercise and to control the stiffness. I can no longer live without intermittent rounds of physical therapy to correct my posture and work out my stiffness. Several easy stretches greatly reduce my pain and stiffness in a matter of moments. I met many people there with illness and stiffness that are prettymuch reliant on the stretches and rounds of therapy to do any type of exercise. And a good place is like having your own personal trainer desigining exercises and stretches just for you. Often massage and whirlpool, even water exercises can be involved. It can be a small luxury that medicare still pays for. You might give it a try. I'm going back ASAP. I lost weight, improved my body shape (got a bit of a waistline) and learned to fix some of my pain. I too need to work on endurance. THe stretches are reallykey to the tendons and muscles which can become stiff from no use and hurt really bad.Love, Marji

Hi Tammy, My husband ruptured his achilles tendon a couple of months ago and had to have surgery. He did say that it was bothering him before that but he never went to the doctor. The doctor told him that he probably had partial tearing at that time and they could have casted him or booted him. If you are feeling this, I would def check it out with the doc to make sure. Do you have an ortho doc or can one of your docs refer one? I'll get off my soapbox now :) it's just that after seeing what my husband went through/still goes through, I tend to get concerned. It's been two months now and he's still in an aircast boot, and his ankle/foot is still swollen.

Oh and yes, when my husband did some research on the tendons he did mention to me that Lupus puts you at a higher than normal risk for tendon problems.Dx: IBS 1989, Diverticulosis 2004, Idiopathic Acute Colitis 2006, UCTD 2007, Localized Scleroderma 2009, Raynauds 2009